April 3, 2008
Yellow Bird
Spring has finally come to the Pacific Northwest after a ridiculously cold (and snowy!) March. I heard my first Orange-crowned Warbler just this last Tuesday which is a bit on the late side. This makes the early reports of other even later arriving spring warblers a bit strange. I think some folks may not realize just how yellow an Orange-crowned can look and they default to warblers that are more typically thought of as yellow.
So, here's the general break down:
Orange-crowned Warbler - Average first detection = Mar 31 (range 3/23 to 4/6); peak movement May 5
Wilson's Warbler - Average first detection = Apr 19 (range 4/12 to 4/28); peak movement May 25
Yellow Warbler - Average first detection = May 8 (range 5/4 to 5/14); peak movement May 31
These values are for the Oregon north coast and those living at, say, Coos Bay might want to subtract 7 to 10 days, but they're pretty close and certainly demonstrate that the most likely yellowish warbler this early in the season is the brightly colored lutescens type Orange-crowned. So, look twice before reporting the others. For more on the phenology of these warblers see : Phenology of four neotropical warblers at the Neawanna Wetlands
Posted by mbalame at April 3, 2008 7:21 PM